ENGLAND’S FIRE STOKED FOR REPEAT
Ben calls for more of the same
ENGLAND’S Test team are out to capture the public’s imagination once more with Ben Stokes promising their early summer venom will still be on show.
They say a week is a long time in sport, so for this team, the intervening six weeks since they put India to the sword in the same manner they did three times to New Zealand, has felt like a lifetime.
That is why Stokes believed it necessary to take to the whiteboard in the Lord’s dressing room and reiterate just what he expects of his side now that they are all back together again to take on South Africa in a three-Test series starting today.
“I’m really excited to get back out there,” said Stokes, who has overcome his knee niggle during the break. “Because it felt like a really long time away from each other.
“So getting back in there, seeing everybody, chatting through and reminding everybody about what we’ve done and what we’ve achieved has been great.
“But also sticking to our guns and making sure that six-week period hasn’t lost its venom because it would be easy to have a long time away from each other and almost forget the role that we’ve managed to find for ourselves.
“It was just about reiterating the points we made at the start of the summer about our mindset, attitude and everything like that about how we go out and play our cricket.”
It is the way England played across those first four matches that resonated so strongly with the public.
“That was one of my desires as captain,” said Stokes. “How can we capture the imagination of English followers again?
“I honestly believe that if we had walked away on the wrong side of those four games, and not come away with a win, people would have been excited with what they’d seen and we would still have had their support.”
It just so happens that England managed the perfect combination of thrilling performance with victory, which only increases the level of expectation for this series.
As good as England were, there are areas to work on, such as the output of openers Zak Crawley and Alex Lees.
Stokes is adamant the numbers do not tell the full story, with the duo setting England on their way to victory against India with a quickfire 107-run stand.
“I want the openers to go out there and feel that they are able to win us the game with the bat, not set the game up for the middle order,” said Stokes.
“That’s what they did at Edgbaston and of all the things we managed to do as a team in those four games, hand on heart I can say that was the most pleasing thing to me over those four or five weeks, that opening partnership at Edgbaston.
“To see Zak go out and still play in such a selfless manner when sometimes people might just look to get a score, that’s the kind of stuff that is so pleasing to see, that these guys are not just in it for themselves and looking after themselves. They get the team ethos.”